Use of paintballs and associated paintball apparatus in law enforcement training and sporting activities is widely known in the art. In addition to the use of paintballs and associated apparatus, a wide range of other law enforcement training apparatus and equipment is also known and available in the art. As examples, related law enforcement training and sporting activities involve use of firearms and live ammunition against passive targets, and person against person competition involves use of light emitting and reflected light sensing weapon simulating devices. However, of all the apparatus and equipment currently available, only the use of paintballs and associated paintball apparatus in person-to-person competition offers realism commensurate with real life law enforcement problems and activities. Congruently, sporting activities involving similar person against person competition add a realism which sets paintball sporting activities apart form other like person-against-person competition.
Generally activities involving use of firearms against passive targets which do not return fire hone reflexive shooting skills, but do not school a trainee to perform when the trainee may be both the hunter and the hunted. On the other hand, light emitting and reflective light sensing weapon simulating devices are limited by the area and angle of reflective targets to the emitted light ray, by the ability of a targeted individual to remove a reflective target from viewable access by the weapon, by possible reflection from something other than the target thereby producing a false positive hit, and by inability to check a result to determine whether or not a presumed hit had really occurred.
Paintball associated training and sporting activities generally involve person-to-person competition. One or more participants are directly pitted against one or more other participants. A common goal such as acquiring and moving a flag from one predetermined place to another designated place by a participant legitimately remaining in the competition is often used as the winning move. During the attempt to accomplish the winning move the player trying to acquire and transport the flag becomes a prime paintball target, although each participant in the competition is a potential target. A participant is removed from competition when receiving a mark from a paintball. Any player receiving a hit on any part of the body from a paintball, whether the ball breaks or not, is declared marked. Each player so marked must terminate participation in the competition and leave the activity site.
Special protective equipment is required when participating in a paintball activity. Such equipment comprises protective eyewear which may comprise a helmet and body and extremity coverings. Safety dictates the presence of at least one official during sporting events and at least one supervising instructor during training The officials and instructors are responsible for starting an activity, judging hit markings and disqualifying acts, verifying goal accomplishment, and declaring an end to each activity.
More common sites for paintball activities are out-of-doors; however, indoor sites, most often employed for recreational uses, are known. In some cases, both the indoor and out-of-doors sites comprise parts which are portable or dynamically moved during or between the activities, but they are most often free standing or individually used. Each of such sites is usually chosen and established where the land and neighborhood are permissive to a continuing and successful paintball activity and more or less permanently located thereat. For this reason, law enforcement training, using paintballs and associated equipment, is often either not available within a reasonable distance for regular training cycles or normally involves extended, time consuming travel.